Gold Passport Concierge

Dear Flyer Talk Members,

It’s now officially spring and that means the promise of warmer weather and a terrific new promotion from Hyatt Gold Passport. Last year, we made significant enhancements to the Program and launched them through The Big Welcome promotion. We are now pleased to announce an encore -- The Big Welcome Back, which will launch on Friday, March 26th. Members will have the opportunity to earn either 1 (one) Free Night Award or 5,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points after every 2 (two) eligible stays at any Hyatt worldwide through June 30, 2010.

As a part of Hyatt’s commitment to making guests feel more than welcome with each and every stay, The Big Welcome Back was designed to make it easier than ever to return to Hyatt for a complimentary stay. Because the only thing better than welcoming you, is welcoming you back.

Free Night Awards are valid from April 1 through August 31, 2010, and there is no limit to the number of free nights or bonus points a member can earn during this promotion period. Please note that the expiration date for Free Night Awards will not be extended beyond August 31st nor can free night awards be converted to Hyatt Gold Passport points.

For additional details, please see the following Frequently Asked Questions and the Promotion Terms and Conditions and visit goldpassport.com on March 26th to register and begin earning your choice of free night awards or bonus points.

We look forward to welcoming you very soon at one of our great properties around the world.



FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Is registration required for the promotion?
Yes, registration is required and will be available at goldpassport.com on March 26th.

How many free nights or bonus points I can earn?
The number of free nights you can earn is unlimited if you choose to earn free nights. The number of bonus points you can earn is unlimited if you choose to earn bonus points. Once you choose to earn either free nights or bonus points, you cannot switch your earning preference.

What are the redemption dates for the free night awards?
Redeem your free night award(s) between April 1 and August 31, 2010, at any Hyatt hotel or resort worldwide. To book your free night award(s), simply visit My Promotional Awards or call Hyatt Gold Passport Customer Service at 800-228- 3360 or your nearest Worldwide Reservation Centre. Free night award(s) expire on September 1 and no extensions will be granted.

Can I change my earning preference throughout the promotion?
No. Once you choose to earn free nights, you cannot switch to earn bonus points. If you choose to earn bonus points, you cannot switch to earn free nights.

Will I receive Hyatt Gold Passport points for my stay in addition to the free nights or bonus points?
Yes, you will still receive the standard 5 points per eligible dollar spent.

Does it matter if I choose points or miles for my stay in order to earn free nights or bonus points?
No. You can choose to earn points or miles for your stay.

What constitutes an “Eligible Stay”?
An “Eligible Stay” is one (1) or more consecutive nights at any participating hotel or resort when choosing points or miles, paying an Eligible Rate, whether or not the guest checks out and back in during the promotion period. Award stays shall not constitute an Eligible Stay.

Are there any restrictions on the form of payment in order to participate in The Big Welcome Back promotion?
No, all forms of payment are accepted.

Do reservations booked prior to March 26 for stays on or after March 26 qualify for the promotion?
Yes, all stays between March 26 and June 30, 2010, no matter when they were booked, are eligible providing they meet the requirements of an Eligible Stay and you are registered for the promotion.

When will I receive my 5,000 bonus points?
If you chose to earn bonus points, your bonus points will be posted to your account as you complete the stay qualifications. Please allow 10 days after check-out for bonus points to be posted to your Hyatt Gold Passport account. (Allow 2-3 weeks for awards to post from stays outside the U.S.)

Where can I see how many bonus points I have earned?
To see how many bonus points you have earned and to redeem points, visit goldpassport.com, access your account with your Hyatt Gold Passport number and password, click on My Account and select Account Details.

When will I receive my free night award information?
If you chose to earn free nights, your free night award(s) will be posted to your account as you complete the stay qualifications. Please allow 10 days after check-out for awards to be posted to your Hyatt Gold Passport account. (Allow 2-3 weeks for awards to post from stays outside the U.S.)

Where can I see how many free night award(s) I have earned?
To see how many free night award(s) you have earned and to book these award(s), visit goldpassport.com, access your account with your Hyatt Gold Passport number and password, click on My Promotional Awards.

If I pay for more than one room, will I receive free nights or bonus points for all rooms?
No. Free night awards or bonus points will be given for one room per member, per stay regardless of the number of rooms.


TERMS AND CONDITIONS

ELIGIBILITY/HOW TO REGISTER: To be eligible to participate in this Promotion, you must be a Hyatt Gold Passport member. To register for this Promotion, visit http://www.goldpassport.hyatt.com/gp...lcome-back.jsp ("Web Site") during the Promotion Period, and follow the instructions or call 1-800-228-3360 or your nearest Worldwide Reservation Centre. You will receive an option to register for one (1) of the following Offers described below: (a) Free Nights Offer or (b) 5,000 Hyatt Gold Passport Bonus Points Offer (collectively “Offers”). You may not register for both offers and you will not be permitted to change your Offer selection at any time during the Promotion Period. Void where prohibited.

PROMOTION PERIOD: Promotion begins March 26, 2010 and ends on June 30, 2010 (“Promotion Period”).

ELIGIBLE STAYS: For the purposes of these Offers, an “Eligible Stay” shall be defined as one (1) or more consecutive nights at any participating hotel or resort when choosing points or miles, paying an Eligible Rate, whether or not the guest checks out and back in during such period; award stays shall not constitute an Eligible Stay. Hyatt Gold Passport members will only receive credit for one room, per Eligible Stay, regardless of the number of paid rooms during the Eligible Stay.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE FREE NIGHT OFFER: During the Promotion Period, complete at least two (2) Eligible Stays at any participating Hyatt hotel or resort, Andaz™, Hyatt Place™, Hyatt Summerfield Suites™ or Hyatt Vacation Club™ Resort worldwide. After your second Eligible Stay, you will receive one (1) free night award credited to your Hyatt Gold Passport account. You may receive one (1) additional free night award for each two (2) subsequent Eligible Stays during the Promotion Period. To receive one (1) free night you must be a Hyatt Gold Passport member, register for the promotion, provide your Hyatt Gold Passport account number at reservation/check-in, be a registered guest physically occupying the room to which you are registered and pay an Eligible Rate. For the purposes of this Promotion, an "Eligible Rate" shall be defined as any hotel published room rate, including, but not limited to rates found on hyatt.com, the Hyatt Daily Rate, Volume Account Rates, AAA and Senior Citizen rates. "Ineligible Rates" are discounted rates, including, but not limited to, any free night stays, Third Party Internet Rates (examples include priceline.com, hotels.com, Expedia, and Travelocity), traditional wholesale rates (examples include GOGO Worldwide Vacations, Pleasant Holidays, etc.), airline crew rates, airline employee rates, travel agency employee rates, Club at the Hyatt discount certificate stays, Hyatt employee or employee family discount rates, airline interrupted-trip vouchers or contracted rooms (a contract room is a room that has been reserved pursuant to a written and executed agreement between a hotel and a corporation, government agency or individual for a negotiated room rate in exchange for an agreed upon number of rooms to be rented for an extended period of time).

FREE NIGHT AWARD RESTRICTIONS: Please allow ten (10) days after each of your second Eligible Stays for Free Night Award(s) to be posted to your Hyatt Gold Passport account (allow 2-3 weeks for awards from stays outside the U.S.). Free Night Award(s) must be posted to your account prior to redemption.

Reservations for Free Night Award(s) redemption are subject to availability and must be made in advance by visiting the My Promotional Awards page within goldpassport.com, or by calling 1-800-228-3360 or your nearest Hyatt Worldwide Reservation Centre. Free Night Award(s) can only be redeemed for stays between April 1, 2010 and August 31, 2010 and are not transferable. Free Night Award(s) are valid for standard room accommodations only and do not include incidental expenses, gratuities, service charges or other hotel-specific charges. Free Night Award(s) are valid for single or double occupancy. Additional guests are subject to additional hotel charges. Stays at hotels outside the U.S. may be subject to government approvals, regulations, restrictions and taxes. Other restrictions may apply.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE HYATT GOLD PASSPORT BONUS POINT OFFER: During the Promotion Period, complete at least two (2) Eligible Stays at any participating Hyatt hotel or resort, Andaz™, Hyatt Place™ , Hyatt Summerfield Suites™ or Hyatt Vacation Club™ Resort worldwide. After your second Eligible Stay, you will receive 5,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points credited to your Hyatt Gold Passport account. You may receive 5,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points for each two (2) subsequent Eligible Stays during the Promotion Period. To receive bonus points you must be a Hyatt Gold Passport member, register for the promotion, provide your Hyatt Gold Passport account number at reservation/check-in, be a registered guest physically occupying the room to which you are registered and pay an Eligible Rate. For the purposes of this Promotion, an "Eligible Rate" shall be defined as any hotel published room rate, including, but not limited to rates found on hyatt.com, the Hyatt Daily Rate, volume, AAA and senior citizen rates. "Ineligible Rates" are discounted rates, including, but not limited to, any free night stays, Internet wholesale rates (such as priceline.com, hotels.com, etc.), traditional wholesale rates (such as GOGO Worldwide Vacations, Pleasant Holidays, etc.), airline crew rates, airline employee rates, travel agency employee rates, Club at the Hyatt discount certificate stays, Hyatt employee or employee family discount rates, airline interrupted-trip vouchers or contracted rooms (a contract room is a room that has been reserved pursuant to a written and executed agreement between a hotel and a corporation, government agency or individual for a negotiated room rate in exchange for an agreed upon number of rooms to be rented for an extended period of time).

BONUS POINT RESTRICTIONS: Please allow two to three (2 -3) weeks after your second Eligible Stay (and each Eligible Stay thereafter) for bonus points to be posted to your Hyatt Gold Passport account (allow 4-6 weeks for bonus points from stays outside the U.S.).

GENERAL CONDITIONS: Hyatt Gold Passport reserves the right to alter or withdraw this promotion at any time without notice. This promotion is subject to the complete Terms and Conditions of the Hyatt Gold Passport program. For complete program terms and conditions visit goldpassport.com.

Hyatt Hotels & Resorts™ encompasses hotels managed, franchised or leased by subsidiaries and affiliates of Hyatt Hotels Corporation. The trademarks Hyatt™, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts™, Park Hyatt™, Andaz™, Grand Hyatt™, Hyatt Regency™, Hyatt Place™, Hyatt Summerfield Suites™, Hyatt Vacation Club™ Resort, Hyatt Gold Passport™, and related marks are trademarks of Hyatt Hotels Corporation. © 2010 Hyatt Hotels Corporation. All rights reserved.

m0hamed

I love Hyatt!

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Apologies for highjacking this post - but since this is the 2nd post - I'm using it to post our FT FAQs of the promotion

PLEASE READ THESE FAQs - MOST OF THE COMMON QUESTIONS WILL PROBABLY BE ANSWERED HERE

These FAQs were originally written by LIH Prem , thank you for your efforts. I will be editing these FAQs for a while to incorporate new information etc.

This round the promotion is called “THE BIG WELCOME BACK” (BWB) – which gives you a choice of a free night after every 2 stays (traditional FFN) of 5,000 bonus points for every 2 stays. This FAQ refers to the traditional FFN but many of the FAQs would also apply to the bonus point choice also.

This post is intended to be the FFN FAQ. It will contain information about FFN and links to other threads about FFN. This post is based on all FT members posts. I'm sorry we're not able to name all the members that contributed, but we can thank everybody for all the information here. Also, we're just trying to aggregate what we've learned from all the other FT members here in this one post. I'm not the expert, I'm just trying to repeat what I've learned on FT.

Please do not post off-topic questions in this thread. Start another thread for that. Keep this thread focused on keeping this post up to date.

Please do post suggested additions/corrections/links to this thread as member assistance in keeping this first post in the thread up to date. Suggested additions/changes are always welcome.

You will be able to tell when this post is updated by looking at the "last edited" date at the bottom of the post. You can also "subscribe" to changes in this thread by selecting "Thread Tools"/"Subscribe" at the top of the thread. "Subscribe" will notify you when the thread changes.

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FFN FAQs

What is FFN? FFN is Hyatt's promotion called Faster Free Nights. In the typical FFN promotion, 2 eligible stays earns you one free FFN night.

What is the earning and redemption period? The FFN promotion has an earning period and a redemption period. For the current promotion, the earning period is March 26, 2010 – June 30, 2010. The redemption period for this version is April 1, 2010 – August 31, 2010 with no extensions.

What if my stay overlaps a date prior or after the promotion earning period? A member has asked the Diamond Desk this question and the answer was that the stay must include a NIGHT within the promotion period to be eligible. However, you may need to request a manual adjustment from CS if this happens.

Is registration required for the promotion? Yes, registration is required and link will be posted as soon as its available. You may wait until later on (but prior to the end) of the earn period to register if you don't know which choice (which cannot be changed) will work out better for you. Registration for a promotion is retroactive to the promotion's start date.

Do AAA, Government, and Coporate rate stays count towards FFN? In the past they have not been a problem. Generally any stay that generates a stay credit will generate a FFN credit.

Do other "promotional" rate (eg Travelzoo) rate stays count towards FFN? Generally no since those rates do not generate a stay credit. YMMV though - in the last round of FFNs "travelzoo" rates booked directly on www.hyatt.com qualified.

Do "phantom stays" (check-in via 800-checkin or web checkin but never actually go to the property) count towards FFN? Hyatt has revised its T&Cs so that "phantom stays" no longer count for stay credit (therefore also FFN credit). However, there has been no reports one way or the other. YMMV.

Do Priceline/Hotwire, award, and Stay Certificate stays count towards FFN? Officially, these are excluded from FFN. Occasionally, members have reported that they've earned stay credit (and therefore FFN credit) if they've had an eligible charge but don't count on it.

Do back-to-back stays count for more stay credits? No. Even if you have them on separate reservations and/or do a check out / in without at least one night in between. However, if there is more than one Hyatt property in the locale you’re staying in, switching between the properties will earn you multiple stay credits. (eg for a 2 night stay property A for first night then property B for second night, for a 3 night stay property A for first night, property B for second night, property A again (or C) for third night). This is known as hotel hopping.

Do stays at multiple properties on the same night count for multiple stay credits? No. The only possible exception may be if the two properties are significantly far apart (eg. East Coast and West Coast) and you are able to convince CS why you were in both properties the same night.

What is an eligible charge? A phone call (even a local call if they charge you for it) or room service. Sometimes the restaurant if it's hotel-owned. Parking charges, taxes, third party charges are generally not considered an eligible charge. Your mileage may vary on this.

How many FFN nights can I earn? As many as you can during the earning period. There is no limit on the number that can be earned.

Are any properties exempt from redemption? According to the new T&Cs, all properties now participate in redemption including (the Manchester Hyatt in San Diego, CA USA and the Hyatt Regency Madeleine in Paris, France). Properties brand new to the Hyatt family may opt not to participate however.

Are there capacity controls on FFN awards? FFN awards are not capacity controlled awards - as long as a "standard" room is available for sale it is available for redemption (both by points and these promotional nights). However, if you know you want to use one (especially at the more desirable properties), make an award booking now, and later you can switch your award from points to an FFN award.

Are there day of week restrictions on FFN awards? This round has no restrictions - all properties can be reserved for stays as short as one night on any day of the week.

How long does it take for a stay (and FFN credit) to post? For stays at US domestic properties, they usually post within a week or so - Full service property stays should post in the afternoon of the day after you checkout - Hyatt Place / Summerfield properties tend to post on Tuesdays although we are not sure what the cutoff is before it goes in a week later. For stays at international properties, it can take up to four weeks or longer for a stay to post. The FFNs are usually posted in sweeps, so it can take several days or even up to a week longer for your FFN night to post after your even numbered stays.

How do I find out how many FFNs I've earned? Look in your account: under Awards then My promotional awards.
If you are a diamond, you will see your suite awards listed first, then the HP award we were recently given. Below that is the accounting for FFNs.

How do I book an FFN award? Last round there was a way to book these award nights online - this round apparently there isn't.
You will need to call to book if your FFN (or any award) stay is less than one week prior to date of arrival.

How many consecutive nights can you book using FFNs? Only limited by the number of earned nights. However, there have been reports that the website will not allow you to book more than 1 night at a time, so you may have to call until this glitch is fixed. There are now reports that CS agents are running into the same problem - so you may want to ask that they check for availability for each individual night rather than a whole "block" of nights if they see no availability.

Are you allowed to book more than 1 room for redemption on the same night at the same property? Yes you are - personally I've had two rooms on several occasions. Only requirement is that you're occupying one room and checking in personally for all rooms.

Are these FFN nights transferrable? No they cannot be transferred to someone else with the exception of the situation immediately above where you are physically at the property also.

Can FFN nights be extended? According to the announcement, no extensions will be granted this time.

Do the "suite" products (Summerfield Suites and Hyatt Place) earn FFN credit? Yes you earn stay credit and therefore FFN credit. Amerisuites are not eligible.

Where can I get more information? Well, the usual place is www.goldpassport.com and follow the link to the t&c for FFN, if there is one.

Trustguy

Karen -- thanks to you and HGP for really making it hard to stay anywhere else. ^

thepointsguy

Loving it Gold Passport^^ The little side thing I currently have going on with you is about to turn into a full blown affair

indo79

Thanks Hyatt!!! I will requalify for Diamond the traditional way soon!

jlcchien

This is totally AWESOME Hyatt ^

Jaimito Cartero

No extensions? Sniff. Was hoping to use some in September.

Italy98

As we were hoping to use them in Oct - Nov while in Australia.

JFKSFOLAX_friend

What will Starwood's response be? (note sarcasm)

YYZC2

That jumped out at me too... probably best to put it to bed out front than repeat the current fiasco.

indo79

I think Hyatt has been very generous and while the no extension clause may upset some people, look at the bigger picture, no other program has been as generous as Hyatt the past year, so choose wisely

bmw303

thank you! great promotion.

Trustguy

What's a Starwood?

etsmyers

similar to NBT, can the rooms be booked prior to the earning of the free nights?

Gotta echo the previous. It is going to be REAL hard for me to requalify for other programs. This is way too good.

ramolnar

Thank you! FFN and this program have caused me to steer a lot of business to Hyatt, even extra weekend travel. So it's worked.